August 13, 2014
By:
Following an 8 day jury trial in Los Angeles Superior Court, Burnham Brown attorneys Aimee Hamoy-Perera, with the assistance of Aneiko Hickerson, obtained a defense verdict in a negligence and loss of consortium case where Plaintiffs sought over $1.5 million dollars in damages. On August 7, 2014, the jury of 11 women and 1 man unanimously concluded that Home Depot was not negligent.
Plaintiffs Timothy Jerry and Carolyn Jerry alleged that Mr. Jerry was struck on the head by a falling lawnmower handle while looking at an elevated lawnmower display at the Torrance Home Depot on April 16, 2011. They claimed that the accident led to a disc replacement surgery in November 2012. Plaintiffs asked the jury to award $153,000.00 in past and future economic damages and over $1.5 million in pain and suffering.
The case was tried before Judge William Willett in Torrance. Defendant Home Depot presented several witnesses from the Torrance store who testified that 1) there were no prior complaints of falling lawnmower handles, 2) that plaintiff had no visible bruise or swelling to his head where he claimed he was struck and 3) that the lawnmowers are assembled by experienced personnel and were only lowered from the display by at least 2 employees. Defendant's orthopedic surgeon, Dr. Charles Rosen, clinical professor at University of California at Irvine, testified that the trauma was so minor that it could not have caused any injury. He also testified that upon his close review of x-rays and MRI scans that Plaintiff had degeneration of the cervical spine unrelated to the accident. Defendant's biomechanical expert, Dr. Peter Orner of San Diego, calculated the forces related to the alleged impact and confirmed the potential forces to the neck are between 100-150 lbs. which would have caused no injury to the discs